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Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Premier League last season and managed to scrape survival to continue their glory in Premier League football. With Tony Fernandes swooping in at the last minute to take over the club as Chairman in summer 2011, he frantically started dishing out the cash to build a Premier League worthy squad. Queens Park Rangers signed a huge 16 players last season to develop and advance their team. With them fighting the relegation battle was that squad good enough? Do they need to sign further players this summer to ensure they’re not fighting for survival again? Or does the team just need time to take shape?

With QPR’s massive 16 man signing last season arguably they do not need to sign anymore players this summer. They need to form a structured and disciplined squad to give them a chance to become an ongoing Premier League club. Yet there are areas of the squad that needs to be strengthened. With the Joey Barton incident pending, and Shaun Derry reaching his later years, there is room for another central midfielder, however with the return of Alejandro Faurlin brewing, the R’s fans would like to see the Argentine back making first team status.

The club this morning announced that Jamie Mackie has been rewarded with a one year extension to his current contract committing himself to the club until 2015 presenting that he is a vital player in the club’s future. Another original R’s player who helped the club with their promotion into the Premier League was last night rewarded for this efforts and contribution to the club. Clint Hill received both Players Player and Supporters Player awards after being called back to the club from a Championship loan deal with Nottingham Forest giving him 22 appearances for The R’s this season. Hill’s contract ends this summer with QPR however many R’s fans are looking for another contract to be signed for the club.

Loan deals made of Samba Diakite and Taye Taiwo in the January transfer window, the Rangers fans will be looking to the club to make permanent signings as both players played a fundamental role in the survival of relegation.

Recent transfer rumours for Queens Park Rangers are the Daily Mirror reported that the club had an interest in signing Victor Moses from Wigan. Moses would be a great addition to the QPR squad as a versatile winger replacing Shaun Wright-Philips who has not lived up to the expectations of the fans. QPR have also been linked with Alessandro Del Piero from Juventus as he revealed that he would love the chance to play in England following his release. Rangers on paper show they have a quality strike force, it would be unnecessary for The R’s to bring in a 37 year old Italian to strengthen that, it would be a wasteful signing. An extreme signing suggestion would be to invest in a player like Jordan Rhodes from Huddersfield Town. He is a strong striker and under the reins of Mark Hughes can develop and progress as a player and become a potential excellent forward.

With the changeover of managers during the season Queens Park Rangers this summer should look into spending time reforming the team and producing a cohesive strong side. Mark Hughes needs to build and strengthen the squad allowing the players to work together creatively on the pitch to produce results in the upcoming season.

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Give me your opinions and continue the debate on my twitter @gmileham1

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Despite the rumblings of the Tottenham hierachy insisting that Modric will not be sold it seems his departure is now inevitable with the player declaring in the Daily Mail “If somebody comes to the club and the offer is good for me and acceptable to them, then I want to leave.”

Well, so far the £22m offer that has been received has been neither good or acceptable to his employers representing a mere £5.5m profit on a prospect they spent a £16.5m gamble on on from Dinamo Zagreb in 2008.

Now the players potential has come to fruition at Spurs the Tottenham chairmen will no doubt play hard ball.  Should player power prevail then Levy will be a reluctant seller and hope to instigate a bidding war between prospective suitors to maximize the players fee.  Modric’s recent comments will anger the chairman though as it will compromise his market value meaning Spurs may eventually be forced to negotiate a price for a player who has openly stated he wants to leave.

Modric who only signed a new contract last season committing his future to Spurs until 2015 has now put his cards firmly on the table. His ambition to further his career is perhaps understandable but his timing barely 2 months after Spurs quarter final Champions League departure in a thrilling campaign where they superseeded Chelsea’s own progress will no doubt disappoint fans.

You would have to be naive to think that such commitment by Spurs would be met with enough loyalty by the player to give the club one more season to win back a coveted Champions League spot.  However Luka is either ill-advised or extremely naive himself to think he can “leave Tottenham as friends” after admitting “It has happened to Tottenham before. It is normal for a player to dream about playing for a bigger club” like Chelsea.

Time for Tottenham to start looking for a replacement.

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“Carlos Tevez has once again raised doubts about his long-term future in the game by admitting he misses his old life back in Argentina.” Firstly, the Argentinian was recently granted leave to return back to his homeland due to the fact that the he was home sick. Now the striker has criticised the attitudes of young footballers and says that he is unhappy with the materialistic lifestyle of the modern player.

I’m sure Adam Johnson, Tevez’s Manchester City team mate will take notice of the remark, the young English midfielder in recent times has made a name for himself as a bit of a party boy.

Tevez then went on to say in an interview with Argentinian station TyC Sports: “If you ask me, I would love to have my old life back in my neighbourhood of Fuerte Apache. I don’t want to play any more.”

The former Manchester United man then went on to explain the reasons for his controversial comment. “The young players think they have won something in football because they have two cell phones and a house. Today there are many bad people in the football business and you have to fight with them all the time. I’m going to play football for three or four years in Europe then I will quit.”

For many Tevez has simply vented what others are feeling. His comments are actually quite refreshing as footballers past and present have shown a less admirable side to themselves, from Contract negotiations to diving to unnecessary expenditure.

Tevez is not alone in his opinion. Bad boy Joey Barton also stated in an interview “most footballers are knobs. Driving round in flash cars and changing them like you change your socks, wearing stupid diamond watches and spending money like it’s going out of fashion in the middle of a recession when some people are struggling to put food on the table for the kids – it’s not the way to do it.”

So what do you think, Have Barton and more recently Tevez given us the truth in terms of the modern footballer? Or are these just the remarks of a couple controversial characters within the game?

If you like what I’ve written why not follow me on Twitter, where you can also keep up to date with the latest Manchester City news!

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Click on Giorgia Palmas below to see her in all her glory

Well that was disappointing.

It was a bit like when you’re young and you get picked for the school team and spend all week in delirious excitement, only to get subbed after five minutes for that short annoying classmate who goes on to score a hat trick, rubbing it in by celebrating right in your face before he is carried aloft by his adoring team mates.

Not that that kind of thing ever happened to us. No sir.

But I imagine it must feel somewhat similar to Saturday’s result. While there is no such thing as an easy game in league 1, and with 19 stalemates the U’s are draw specialists but Colchester have been on a horrid run recently, lying third bottom of the form table, having not won in 10.

They were there for the taking. Unfortunately, we didn’t take. More unfortunately, one of the few teams on a worse trot than the imaginatively nicknamed U’s is Leyton Orient, so their capitulation at the sty was grimly predictable.

More worrying was the lack of cutting edge that seems to have been creeping in over the last couple of matches, most noticeable in the flying winger Antonio who seems to have had his wings clipped somewhat.

Depression, which seems to be many Owls fans natural state of being, is rearing its ugly head. There is even talk in the office of assuming we are doomed to the play-offs and should start resting key players now. Four points looks like a pretty big gap with a mere nine to play for.

To act as a counterweight to this malaise, here are some reasons to be optimistic.

First, Miguel Llera, the sorcerer of Seville, responded to his receipt of the coveted SWFC Football FanCast player of the week award with typical Latin flair, scoring again this week. Second, Reading’s unstoppable hurtle into the top flight of English football probably increases our chances of keeping hold of Antonio. Third, this is how things are going to pan out.

We beat plucky Carlisle and United suffer a not improbable reverse at MK Dons – one point gap. We get a slightly more improbable away win at Brentford, whilst across the city they only manage a point against Stevenage who, to be fair, are on a bit of a run themselves – we go ahead by a point.

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Then on the last day, we just need to beat Wycombe at home to secure promotion.

In the immortal words of Danny Baker, Nothing can go wrong now.

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You sensed a sigh of relief came out of Anfield at the club’s failure to secure a Europa League spot last weekend. Jamie Carragher in particular believes that missing out will enable the club to focus solely on getting back in the top four without the added interference of Thursday night games to trips all over Europe.

At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Liverpool blogs that includes the right transfer attitude for Liverpool to adopt; Barca’s success bodes well for Liverpool FC and Carragher caught red faced.

We also look at the best Liverpool articles around the web this week.

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Caption Competition: Carragher caught ‘red faced’

Liverpool’s transfer plans are commendable but foolish?

Wilshere and Carroll’s omission shows the attitude is all wrong

The right transfer attitude for Liverpool to adopt?

Liverpool set sights on Monaco ace

What next for Liverpool’s young duo?

This Liverpool transfer saga rumbles on and on

Why Barcelona’s success could bode well for Liverpool FC

A Liverpool player that deserves his plaudits

Signing for Liverpool…I guess we will know soon enough

*Best of WEB*

Why I can’t see the sense in this £13million bid – Live4Liverpool

Kenny v The Top 5 – Half A Season In Stats – Tomkins Times

Guardiola not the first manager inspired by Cruyff – This is Anfield

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The Future is Bright, The Future is Scouse – This is Anfield

[Video] Top 4 Liverpool goals of the season – Our Kop

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Click on Wayne Bridge’s current lady below to unveil our WAG XI of the season

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It has been over a decade since cries of ‘Abooooooouuuuuu’ were heard ringing out across Upton Park. The Ivorian-born former France Under-21 international became something of a cult figure in his short time at West Ham, and although he was eventually loaned out to Ipswich Town, Walsall, Troyes and Kilmarnock during his tenure at the Boleyn Ground, he is a character that will live long in the memory of many West Ham fans. But the question still remains, whatever happened to Samassi Abou?

Harry Redknapp once famously said of Abou that;

“He don’t speak the English too good”

So it was probably for the best that after West Ham he found himself back in France playing for AC Ajaccio. He made 60 appearances for the Corsicans before moving on to Lorient for the 2002-03 season, but he surely cannot have been loved more than he was at Upton Park.

Originally thinking he was being booed, Abou soon realised the crowd were chanting his name, especially after a particularly eventful January 1998, where he opened his West Ham account in a 2-1 defeat in a Coca-Cola Cup quarter final against Arsenal. He then went onto grab a brace in arguably his best performance for the Hammers in a 6-0 mauling of Barnsley four days later, before being sent off in an ill-tempered clash at White Hart Lane towards the end of the month. Subsequent to this, Abou only scored three more times for West Ham, with two of these goals coming on the final day of the 1997-98 season, in a 4-3 thriller against Leicester City at Upton Park.

Although he never found the back of the net again for the east London outfit, he managed 5 more appearances for the Hammers before being shipped off on loan to Walsall in October 1999. As for what happened to him, well, after playing for Lorient during the 2002-03 season he dropped off the radar somewhat and besides some fatuous rumours about him being in the vicinity of Basildon, plying his trade as a coach driver, there’s not really much more to go on!

So if you know of the whereabouts of Abou, or just wish to share your memories of the man who made Don King’s barnet look positively stylish, feel free to comment below.

Perhaps Samassi Abou’s Finest Hour in Claret and Blue:

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Click on image below to see a gallery of Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest lady

Kenny Dalglish’s patience with media has become a little strained this season, and the Scottish manager’s latest run-in has done nothing to patch up the situation. Liverpool’s failings on the field of play, the Luis Suarez ‘handshake’ and now rumours surrounding transfers at the club have pushed the relationship to almost breaking point. But is the Reds chief could well be right in his criticism of growing press intrusion.

The world of football has never been the same since the Rupert Murdoch fuelled SkySports intervention transformed and repackaged the sport for the consumerist market of 1990’s Britain. Their alterations to the game centered around a new media aspect, turning the sport into more of a spectacle to infiltrate the living rooms of the nation, moving it away from the purity of its previous form

Since then this effect has snowballed with the creations of SkySports news, an increasing presence of the tabloid press and the internet, all of which are hungry for a story to fill pages an airtime. As a result almost every aspect of the sport is analysed, and dissected, pulling up stories which may not have been there in the first place.

As somewhat of an old school manager, Kenny Dalglish has found the transformation of the game to be disorientating, with the bulk of his previous management experience coming through the 1980’s and 1990’s. During this period the influence of the press was a little subdued as compared to now, allowing staff to go about the day-to-day running of their clubs without interruption.

Rumours surrounding the future of controversial striker Luis Suarez and a perspective move to Paris Saint-Germain, have once again riled the Scot, who believes that media outlets are unsettling his camp ahead of the season run in:

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“It comes as a surprise to myself, that yourselves [journalists] don’t know how the media work,” Dalglish said to SkySports.

“It was a journalist that mentioned the list of names and it was the chairman that said ‘oh they are interesting’. It was a list of names and Suarez’s name was mentioned, but I don’t know if it was Luis Suarez. I don’t know what Suarez it is.

“Also if the guy who sends the story in, if it is not repeated anywhere else and it has no soul and is not attractive to a newspaper, they don’t get any money.

“So I think it will be interesting to yourselves to disclose to the general public where the story comes from, how they get there, instead of asking us questions every time somebody’s name appears in a paper,” he finished.

It’s a frustrating state of affairs for managers across all leagues, with many transfer rumours being completely unfounded, and churned out purely on speculation. Suarez may well be considering a change of scenery, feeling that there may be too much bad blood between himself and various sectors of English football and as a result this has been seized upon to create a story and fill some time. Newcastle also suffered the misfortune of the press in their attempts to keep hold of Demba Ba, as stories were circulated stating the bargain buy-out clause written into his contract, upping the interest in the Senegalese forward. Individual  clubs may well have found this out themselves, but media circulation of the fact alerted them, thus upping the interest levels for one of the Magpies key men.

As the weeks pass, it gets harder and harder to have sympathy with the Liverpool boss, as his talk of a media witch-hunt of his club serves to frustrate fans across the league, but he may well have a point with regards to some aspects of media intrusion. It’s not just Dalglish who has suffered, with the press infiltrating the ranks of clubs across the league system, stirring speculation at each turn. If were not for intervention earlier this campaign the speculation surrounding the demise of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger would have been far less fierce, sparing the Frenchman a fair few sleepless nights over what was ultimately an unfounded story.

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It’s been a tough season for Dalglish and the media, with their relationship pushed to breaking point. However, despite his calls for transparency in and a backing of from many areas of the press, it looks highly unlikely that a change will be made, even if would prove to be to the benefit of those involved in the game.

Follow @Alex_Hams on Twitter for more football based ramblings.

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Dutch Footballer of the Year Theo Janssen has joined Ajax from Eredivisie rivals Twente for an undisclosed fee.Midfielder Janssen, 29, played an influential part in Twente’s season as they reached the Europa League quarter-finals and defeated Ajax 3-2 in the Dutch Cup final.

Twente failed to retain their Eredivisie title by two points after losing away to Ajax on the last day of the season.

And the man who scored 13 goals for them in the campaign will line-up for their rivals next season after agreeing a two-year deal with the Amsterdam outfit.

“I want to become champions again,” Janssen said.

“I leave Twente with a good feeling, they are a top club. They will be at the top again next season.”

Janssen put the reason for an impressive season down to the greater freedom he was allowed under Michel Preud’homme, who replaced Steve McLaren as coach in May 2010.

“When I arrived there, I had a more controlling role but under Preud’homme I was given more freedom. He said from the first day on, ‘You will become the best player in Eredivisie’.”

Bought as a replacement for the out-bound world player of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gabriel Obertan never had it easy when he joined Manchester United. Hit with a string of injuries and being burdened with the task of replacing Ronaldo, the pressure seemed too much for the young Frenchman.

But after what looks like a summer in the gym and some regular football this season, the 21 year could yet prove to be another Ferguson master-stroke.

It’s almost been a coming of age for Obertan. At a time when United really needed their youngsters to prove themselves at the top level, the likes of Chris Smalling, Hernandez and Obertan himself have all shown that they are more than capable.

Dismissed as a spent force without Ronaldo and an in-form Wayne Rooney, United have gone about their business quietly, recruiting and coaching these young players in the hope they will turn into the next best thing. Obertan falls into that category and his progression has been an impressive rise from an unknown quantity to a first team regular.

Now comes the real test for the winger. Antonio Valencia is out for months and Nani’s groin injury could sideline him for a few weeks at least. The United manager seems to favour Obertan as a second striker, working off Berbatov, but his pace and ability to beat players could prove vital for Ferguson’s team at a time where his squad is stretched to breaking point.

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The Frenchman can now use this opportunity to push himself further up the ranks at United. Primarily used as a fringe player, a run in the first team looks likely given the current injury list.

You would hardly call him a last resort, either. An impressive second half display against Wolves in the Carling Cup was rewarded with a start in the Champions League game at Bursaspor. During both games, glimpses of what Alex Ferguson must see in training everyday were beginning to show and his goal was taken with real assurance.

In the aftermath of ‘Rooney-gate,’ many may have been surprised to hear Ferguson declare United unwilling to do any sort of business in the January transfer market. Although, this was not so much of a shock when you consider the unwavering trust he has in his younger players and also in his own judgement.

How often have we heard the Scot say that Manchester United is about developing talent and turning players into the best in the world?  He will argue the club is going through another transition period, with a crop of players who are on the verge of creating history.

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If this is the case, Obertan could be leading the charge of yet another trophy-winning Manchester United side. He may not be a multi-million pound buy or a world icon, but in Ferguson’s eyes, he is the answer to the void left by Mr. Ronaldo. Surely he won’t win anything with kids again, will he?

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After two long weeks of nothing on the pitch, we were finally treated to not just one but two matches in a row as the frosty weather cleared that had interfered with our recent games.

First up was the home fixture on Valentines Day as Oxford made hard work of Dagenham and Redbridge. The first half in truth was a boring affair with very little to shout about, as the many new signings played competitively together for the first time. However the second half saw a change in mentality. United opened the scoring soon after the break with Oli Johnson netting his first for the club.

The Daggers hit back with just 20 minutes to go but this still gave enough time for James Constable to grab the winner and move into double figures for the season at long last. ‘Beano’ had been on a bit of a goal drought with this being his first of 2012 and hopefully it should do wonders for his confidence.

Confidence is a very important thing that we will need to be building up in the next couple of games before the small matter of facing Swindon Town.

Saturday’s fixture against Bristol Rovers saw a stalemate as the weather tried to be a factor once again. The match was actually in doubt as torrential rain poured in the West Country, but after an inspection it was decided the pitch was playable. It finished 0-0 and is another solid point for the U’s to build on with three home games in a row coming up next.

One player to comment on is Mehdi Kerrouche who came of the bench against the daggers and was handed a full debut against the Pirates, Kerrouche helped set up the winning goal on Tuesday and linked up well with the front line against Rovers.

The next two weeks sees three home games against Barnet, Macclesfield and then Swindon, providing there are no more unexpected postponements of course.

After our last home game there is hope that we can push on and transfer some of the brilliant away form from this season to home matches. This season in all competitions we have won only half of the home games and for a team wanting to push for promotion that just is not good enough.

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Not every team can play consistently well for a whole season and you have to think that the clubs above United are sure to slip up sooner or later. Automatic promotion currently looks a long way off but with a few more wins in the next couple of weeks anything could yet be possible.

By Oxford United blogger Mickey Cosier 

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